House Speaker Gordie Gosse is off to Edmonton later this week for the 29th Canadian Presiding Officers Conference, a meeting of Speakers and legislature clerks.

It’s a lot of airplane time for someone who doesn’t like flying, but Gosse, already one of the senior Speakers in the country after a year in the post, is featured on a panel on the challenges facing a new Speaker.

Scheduled to join him are House of Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer, Bill Barisoff of British Columbia and Saskatchewan’s Dan D’Autremont.

It’s a long way from his days on the end of a jackhammer at Sydney Steel, reflected Gosse.

Edmonton in February may not sound all that appealing, but it might beat Iqaluit in January, the site of last year’s meeting. Gosse didn’t go to that session, held just days after he was appointed Speaker.

The long-range forecast in the western capital looks promising, with temperatures on the plus side predicted for late in the week.

Cold weather won’t be a concern for a familiar face around the legislature for the next year and a half.

David McDonald, systems and library technology manager, is taking a leave of absence to be the manager of library services with the College of the North Atlantic campus in Doha, Qatar.

McDonald, 43, says he’s kind of an adventurous person so he took a shot at applying. He learned just before Christmas that he was selected. Since then he’s been busy getting the required work visa, criminal records check, chest X-ray and even an AIDS test.

The avid jogger says he also had to do a little shopping for some knee-length shorts, to comply with the area’s cultural expectations.